Prosecutors file to dismiss Cislo rape charge

Glen Cislo sits in a Cascade County courtroom waiting for the jury to render their verdict in a statutory rape case Friday.
TRIBUNE PHOTO/LARRY BECKNER Glen Cislo sits in a Cascade County courtroom waiting for the jury to render their verdict in a statutory rape case Friday. After more than 10 hours of deliberation the jury could not come up with a verdict.(Photo: TRIBUNE PHOTO/LARRY BECKNER)Buy Photo

Prosecutors have asked that a statutory rape charge against Electric City MMA coach Glen Cislo, whose case saw two Cascade County juries gridlock during deliberations, be dismissed.

In an Aug. 7 filing, Assistant Attorney General Joel Thompson asked that Cislo’s single count of sexual intercourse without consent be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the charge cannot be reinstated at a later date.

Cislo, 37, was accused by prosecutors of having sex with a then-15-year-old-girl he coached. He provided her with alcohol after taking her to a May 2012 mixed martial arts fight at the city Civic Center, they said, then took advantage of her in his basement.

Montana’s age of consent is 16, making any sexual contact between the two nonconsensual by definition.

Cislo and his attorney, Meghan Sutton, admitted that he had given the girl alcohol and kissed her but denied that the exchange had gone any further.

After the girl reported she had been taken advantage of at a later medical appointment, he initially told police that she had not been in his home, but later admitted to taking her there so she could sober up after the fight.

In January, when Cislo’s case was first tried, jurors deliberated for more than a day before concluding they wouldn’t be able to reach a verdict.

In June, a second jury also gridlocked after hearing the case, deliberating for 10 hours before passing the presiding judge a note saying they had reached a 10-2 impasse over the coach’s guilt. A majority of the jurors believed he was guilty, the note said, but the two holdouts prevented the jury from returning the unanimous guilty verdict required for a conviction.

“Both sides are probably equally dissatisfied,” said Sutton, Cislo’s attorney. “It’s very frustrating to try a case like this without a definitive answer.”

“I obviously believe in my client’s innocence,” she also said. “It would have been nice to have some vindication of that — however, I guess a mistrial is a distant second best.”

“We made the decision in consultation with the victim’s family, who have now been through two emotionally taxing jury trials,” Attorney General’s Office spokesman John Barnes said in an email Tuesday afternoon.

State prosecutors, he wrote, reviewed the case after the first trial and brought in additional witnesses and experts for the second.

“At this point we are convinced that a third trial would put the victim and her family through yet another terribly difficult and painful process,” Barnes said.

Reach Staff Writer Eric Dietrich at 791-6527 or edietrich@greatfallstribune.com. He can also be followed on Twitter at @GFTrib_EricD. David Murray also contributed reporting to this story.